Improvement in constructing cars



38h th I 8.]. SEEL ees Seetl Railway Car.

No. 38,507. r Patnted May12, 1863.

lnventon Witnesses= AM. PHDT -LITHO C0. N.Y. (OSBORNE: PROCESS.)

3 h a J" SEELY. S eets Sheet 2 Railway Car.

No. 38,507. Patented May 12, 1863 AMJNOTO-L ITHQCmNN (OSBORNES PROCESS.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3. S. L'SEELY.

Railway Car.

Patented May 12, 1863 Inventor M Witnesses= AM. PHOTO-LI1 HO (20. NY. (OSBOINE'S .PROCESS.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL J. SEELY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN CONSTRUCTING CARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,507, dated May 12, 1863.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL J. SEELY, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kin gs and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Constructing Rail-(Jars; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- I Figure 1 is a side elevation of a car with my improvements applied to it. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section, and Fig.3 a horizontal section, ofihe same. 7

Similar letters of reference in the several figures indicate corresponding parts.

A is the bottom of the car. It is made of wood, strengthened around and along its lengthby angle and V iron, as indicated at 60 I). From the top of the wood bottom A a wood lining, B, extends up a short distance.

This lining is near the edge of the bottom A, and is carried all round the car, except at those places where the doors are to be formed.

0 is the car-body. It is formed of ridged iron, so that a flat portion of metal comes between every-pair of beads or ribs, as indicated at c c and d. This gives great strength and a neat appearance, and at the same timea snug fit between the outer surface of the lining B and the inner surface of the ridged iron is secured. The fiat portions of the ridged iron receive the fastening-bolts that are used to confine the metal to its place, and therefore the heads of such bolts do not require to be rounded off in order to fit between the ridges or ribs, as is the case in the use of corrugated metal.

It will be observed that my car in its horizontal section presents rounded ends and corners. This is very essential,as by it the platform for the driver to stand upon, or for the man who couples and uncouples the cars to operate upon, is made more roomy without adding to thelength of the bottom of the car. By making the cars of ridged sheet metal this curve can be easily obtained and at very slight expense, whereas if the cars were made of wood such form would involve considerable work and expense. Oars made of sheet ridged metal in this form are much stronger than cars which have joints at the corners or ends.

In order to have the end portions of the body fit snugly under the roof of the car, I add a small sheet, E, of plain or ridged metal to the upper edge of the sheet of which the body is formed, and rivet or bolt the same firmly to said sheet, as shown at e c, Fig. 2. I

F is an angle-iron beam or sill for the top of the car to rest upon. It is riveted to the inner upper edge of the body, as shown. To the horizontal portion of this sill the top F of the car is riveted, as shown. The said top is made of ridged metal, and is bent into a curved or arched form.

Great convenience and expedition in putting together the. car are obtained by the use of ridged metal, as the supporting or bracing iron has a fiat bearing and the rivet-heads or the bolt-heads have a flat seat upon the portions at of the sheet metal after they are driven home. This obviates much labor and cost in making and applying the rivets, and also obviates the danger of the rivet-heads drawing through the sheet metal, as experienced in the use ofcorru gated sheet metal. Along the top of the car a strong timber may be placed soas to stiffen the sheet metal, asshown at G. The door-spaces at the sides of the car may be formed by placing angle-iron uprights HH at the terminus of the sheet metal on opposite" sides of each space; and the doors, which are of ridged sheet metal, are hung so as to slide back and forth. To thus hang the doors I, I arrange a series of friction-rollers,f on the side of the angle-iron sill at the bottom of the car, and form a groove for the upper edge of the door at the top of the car by means of an iron strip of inverted U form, as shown at g. This strip is riveted to the top sill, F, after a blocking of wood, as at h, has been interposed. As there is a door on each side of the car, the same arrangement of friction-rollers and upper groove must be on both sides of the car. The lower edges of thedoors are grooved, as shown.

The ridged iron and the round corners may be adopted in the erection of city passengeroars. In such case the doors may be at the ends of the cars, and they may be opened by sliding in a curved recess provided for their reception. I would also use the ridged sheet metal in such manner that the ribs run longitudinal instead of vertical.

The car I have shownis intended especially for carrying soldiers and freight, and in order to render it safe for transporting soldiers through sections of the country occupied by the enemy, and also convenient for freight transportation, I have provided an angular guard, J, around thelower part of the body, so that shot, &c., shall be deflected thereby. This guard is made of an gle-iron or sheetmetal, and forms an angle of from thirty to ninety degrees, as may be found best. In order that the guard shall not interfere with the opening of the-door, I have made that portion, J, which protects the door, and also an: additional overlapping portion, J sepa rate from the'main portion. This detached overlapping portion I fasten to the door andconnect'the unsupported end. thereof to the stationary portion by means of theguide-bolts 'i and the oblong slots j, as indicated in Fig. 1. It will be noticed that the portion J is arranged so as to slide overa part of the por the guard, for a portion of its length, will be doubled, but when the door is closed this is not the case. The length of the slots j should be equal to the extent that the door slides open. As there are two doors-one 011 each side of thecar-this arrangement is duplicated in practice. I have also arranged the formed of long boards tied together laterally at one end. Thelen gth of these boardsshould be sufficient to reach from the ends of-the-car to the vertical uprights of the door-spaces. The seats thus formed are mounted upon pivoted supports 1 I, said supports having a pivotal connection both on the seats and onv the car-bottom. V

In order that the seats and supports may descend to a position level with the surface of the car floor or bottom, I'form the bottom with depressions corresponding with the seats and their connections, and have the seats, 8wdescend into the same. Thus arranging the seats enables me to readily adapt the car to purposes of carrying freight if no soldiers are to be transported.

It-is obvious that the pivoted supports in combination with the seats and car-bottom will operate the same as the links of a parallel rule, and therefore the recesses for the reception of the seats, 8m, must be arranged so as to allow the seats their necessary forward motion in order to assume a position levelwith the bottom of the car.

My invention possesses many advantages over the ordinary iron and metal cars before contrived, both as to cost and durability. The

appearance of a ridged-iron car is also more tween the same, so as to prevent penetration of rifle-balls, time, but as the angular guard is provided on the outside of the one wall, for the purpose of glancing off the balls, this may be unnecessary, and especially so as the iron I is ridged.

The elliptic or curved ends of the car afford greater safety to the person whose-duty it is to-connect the cars, and also give a greater space to stand upon between two cars, and besides this the car is stronger and firmer therefrom. The ridged iron would answer for other vehicles than cars, as it possesses great strength with great-lightness, and is very beautiful in appearance and has the advantage of cheapness and. of being firmly and readily put into the desired form. seats K of the car so that they may be let down level with the surface of the bottom of the car. To accomplish this the seats: are

I am aware that railroad-car bodies have beenmade of metal which is corrugated or ribbed or wrinkled on both its inner and outer surfaces, such metal being shown inprevious patents of my own. Therefore, I do not claim the use of such metal; but

WhatIclaim as my invention,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. Constructing the ends of metal cars of ridged sheet metal (Z c c and of elliptical or curved form and without joints at the corners, substantially as set forth.

2. The arrangement of the angular guard J, or its equivalent, in combination with the car-body, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. Arranging the seats of a car substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.

4. The construction of a car or other wheeled vehicle with round or elliptic ends and of ridged sheet metal 0? cc, angle-iron, and wood combined, in the manner and for the purpose herein described.

5. The manner herein described of arranging. the doors, in combination with the shield or guard, for the purpose set forth.

SAML. J. SEELY.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM R. EVANS, LAWRENCE B. VALK. 

